-*A.N. Hey guys, I am really sorry for taking such a massively long time to update this for you. I was almost finished the latest chapter, trying to polish it and my laptop broke. The screen died and I couldn't access it to back up anything, so I lost quite a lot of data. As such, I've had to completely re-write this entire chapter from scratch, which was a pain but it's definitely different than what I originally had. That, and school came up and I was that trapped with assignments and such I couldn't work on it.

Sorry for the delay, but some things I guess are just unavoidable :/

"Fuck me, it feels like its 100 degrees out" Kenny complained, wiping the thick layer of sweat that was building up on his forehead. Clementine looked over at him, thinking the exact same thing, but instead opting to not talk. "What I wouldn't do for a cold beer right about now…"

"Kenny, you can't be serious. I've seen you drunk, you can't hold your alcohol" Clementine failed miserably to try and stifle a laugh as Kenny glared at her.

"Whatever. You find anything yet? I've got fuck all over here" Clementine looked down at her meager stash, which mainly consisted of a few bottles of water, some assorted fruit snacks and a pair of binoculars. Her earlier joy died as soon as she saw this, seeing as they would need to make more stops. Their supplies were beginning to run low, they had next to no ammo, around 4 boxes of cans to feed 9 people, as well as around 8 cans of formula for AJ. They were going to start going hungry soon, and if it was anything like the motel, people were bound to start getting more and more snappy.

"Nothing, there's nothing here. We should just head back and get going, we aren't going to find anything" Clementine bent down and picked up the disappointingly light bag, slinging it over her shoulder and started walking back towards the truck. She heard Kenny grumble something behind her, before she heard him walk up behind her, crunching rocks against the cracked highway.

"Seems like almost everything these days is gone, we're living off scraps as it is" Kenny pointed out as the two trekked up the highway.

"Well, what if we started a farm? We could grow our own food and have veggies and fruit to live off of, and we can catch some animals out in the wild and breed them" Clem's eyes lit up as her ideas spilled out of her mouth. She turned to Kenny, a look of happiness but hesitation etched on his face.

"I don't know Clem. It's a good idea, don't get me wrong. But farming is a massive job, not to mention my opinion on farms isn't exactly high after the dairy" Clementine winced when she heard Kenny mention the St. John Dairy. She lost Mark, and as much as she hated to admit it, Larry, in the dairy. She was also seconds away from eating Mark's legs, had Lee not stopped her in time. Kenny noticed how drastically her mood had changed and kicked himself for what he said. "Shit, sorry Clem. I forgot it was a touchy subject"

"It's fine, It's just… we lost so much because of that stupid dairy. We lost Carley, we lost Mark, we lost Larry, we lost… everyone" The realization dawned on the girl. The bandits didn't start attacking until after the dairy. If they hadn't attacked, Lilly wouldn't have shot Carley, Duck and Katjaa would still be with them. If it weren't for the bandits, she wouldn't be here right now; she'd be with Lee still.

"I know, there ain't a day that goes by that I don't mourn Katjaa, Duck, Lee, even Ben. But we can't just give up because they're gone. We have the opportunity, the chance, to make things better. I'm sure everyone we've lost is looking down on us right now, cheering us on" Kenny looked up to the sky, as if thanking an invisible force. He had a look of hope on his face, something Clementine hadn't seen in years.

"He's right. My parents, Lee, Sandra... They're all cheering me on. I have to keep going, for them" Clem thought to herself, smiling.

"Well, let's not dawdle. I'm sure everyone else is-" Kenny stopped suddenly, as a gunshot rang out. Clementine's hand instantly moved to her own gun, drawing it without even realizing.

"What in the fuck was that?!" Kenny whispered, grabbing his own gun.

"I don't know!" Clem whispered back, crouching down. The bag of supplies began digging into her back, making it hard to crouch.

"See anyone?" Kenny had his gun up, looking down the sight. The back of their truck was still open, but no-one was in sight.

"No, I don't… wait, up there!" Clementine pointed up towards the large bridge ahead of them, where Winter was slowly peeking over.

"Ok, we need to check the truck, then see if we can't spot where Kris and that went to" Clementine nodded, walking behind Kenny and slowly walking towards the back of the truck. The cars were thinned out around the truck, leaving nothing to use as cover, should there be someone with a rifle of some sort around the corner.

"Drop your bag, then move around the other side. I'll go around this way" Clementine removed the bag and hugged the side of the truck, moving towards the front. Both doors were shut, which gave Clem some hope that everyone inside was alright. Clementine peered into the truck and saw Lilly with her gun out, an arm around Patricia and Gill and moving them behind her. Clementine watched as she motioned forward, and before they realized anything, 2 more gunshots rang out. The bullets slammed into the front of the truck, barely missing Clem's head. She instinctively ran to the back of the truck and flattened herself against the back of the vehicle. She saw Kenny run around the corner and take cover behind the truck.

"Fuck! I saw them, they're behind those cars ahead of us, but I don't have a clear line of fire" Kenny huffed, leaning against the truck.

"How many are there?" Clementine looked fearfully back where they just were, noticing a flash of white fly past a window.

"I don't know, I didn't get a good look. Maybe 3 or 4 at the most"

"Well, we kind of have them surrounded, don't we? We're here, and Kris is behind them" Kenny turned to the girl, a look of pride on his face.

"That's right! But they didn't take anything big with them. So unless these bandits have a fear of handguns there's not much they can do" Clem sighed, trying to think of something.

"Wait, what about Winter? She's on the bridge, she can shoot down" Kenny peered around the corner and noticed Winter must have had the same idea, as she was leaning down and aiming at something behind the cars.

"Clem, go around that way and hide behind the cars. I'm gonna jump the barrier and move around on the other side. Let's see if we can't get the jump on them" Clem nodded and crouched behind the truck, reaching the other side and spotting a car she could easily reach. She peeked out slightly and reeled back instantly when another gunshot went off, the bullet slamming into the truck near here. She turned around right as Kenny jumped the barrier and disappeared behind it. She looked around for anything she could use when she saw the box of empty cans near the door. Without thinking she grabbed a can and hurled it forward, watching it get shot out of midair and flying back. She jumped back and hid further behind the truck.

"Kenny? Clem? Lilly? Anyone there?" Kris' voice rang out behind her, slightly static-y. Clementine turned and looked around for the source of the noise. She stepped forward and her foot kicked something under the truck. When she reached down and pulled out the object, she found Kenny's radio clicking.

"Kris, are you there?" Clementine whispered through the radio. A moment of silence followed, spooking Clementine, until Kris' voice came through again. "Clementine, thank god. What's going on up there, we heard a gunshot?"

"There's someone hiding behind the cars in front of the truck. Lilly and Patricia are in the front, and Kenny's run off to try and sneak behind them" Clem spoke quickly, trying to think of something she could do to help in any way.

"Alright. Where are you now?" Kris questioned as a few guns were cocked in the background. Clem slid up into the truck and crawled to the back to AJ's makeshift bed. "I'm in the truck with AJ"

"Good. Stay there, we'll take care of this"

"I swear, these people are fucking annoying me now. None of them have the balls to poke their heads out" One of the bandits murmured, his voice carrying across from behind their cover.

"Calm down Gerald, they'll come out. Just think what could be in that truck, use it as a reminder to be patient" The second bandit replied calmly.

"Yeah man, think about it. A decent meal, fresh water and a full truck!" The third bandit pointed out giddily.

"Keep it together Jerome, we still need to get rid of these people first" The second bandit scolded, aiming his rifle back towards the truck.

"Whatever. Why don't we just go up and take it?" The first bandit questioned, his eyes never leaving the cab of the truck.

"They might be armed. We can't just waltz up and take it, they'll fire on us before we even get near them" The second bandit explained plainly.

"Well we aren't gonna get it sitting back here. Why don't Sam and I go up and get the cab, and Gerald can stay back here and cover us?" The third bandit looked to his two companions, waiting for their input.

"That isn't a bad idea. Let's do it" The second bandit holstered his rifle, grabbing out a handgun and crouching by the hood of the car. The third did the same and hid behind the car, drawing his handgun and checking to make sure it was loaded.

"Well, let's go. Keep your head down, we don't wanna get shot, now do we?" The third bandit nodded, moving around the car into the middle of the road. The second followed suite, leaving only one bandit sitting behind the cars.

"C'mon guys, hurry up. I'm starving here" The bandit muttered, aiming down the scope once more.

"Oh, don't worry. That won't be an issue no more" The bandit tensed, hearing a strange voice behind him. He reached for his belt, only to feel the barrel of a gun against his head. "Don't even try it, fucker. You made a grave mistake attacking my truck"

"Wait wait wait! L-Let me call my friends off and w-we'll leave. I promise!" The bandit stuttered in fear.

"Nope, not happening" The bandit's face was beginning to sweat from under the bandanna he was wearing.

"Please, I don't wanna die man! I-I got a group I gotta take care of!" The bandit pleaded, dropping his rifle.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't. I let you go and you just pull us up again and try to rob us" The man snapped, grabbing the discarded rifle and taking it away from the bandit.

"W-We wont man! I give you my word, we won't attack you!"

"Hmm… Fine" The man moved the gun away from the bandit's head.

"R-Really?" The man put his arms out to stand up, then immediately tensed when he felt the gun against his head again.

"Nope" A single gunshot rang out, spreading brain matter and bits of the bandit's skull across the pavement.

"Damn Kenny, bit savage don't you think?" Kris appeared behind the bearded man, watching from afar as he killed the bandit.

"They almost killed Clem. I promised to take care of that girl, and I almost failed. Trust me, that wasn't nothing. If I had my way he would've been walker chow" Kenny stated, wiping the brain matter off his gun with the bandit's shirt.

"Jeez, and I thought I was the crazy one" Kris muttered, staring at the lifeless corpse of the bandit. The two stood still, staring at the corpse, neither noticing Jake and Randy approaching.

"Well, at least we got a bit of gas" Kenny commented, noticing finally the two gas cans Jake and Randy were holding.

"Not a lot though. We won't make it far with this, so it might be time soon to either find something more fuel efficient or we might just have to ditch the truck" Jake sighed, shaking the half empty fuel can to prove his point.

"We'll take this as far as we can. We might find another gas station ahead" Kenny sighed, looking back to the truck. He saw the other two bandits being held at gunpoint by Lilly and Patricia, with Gill and Clementine nowhere in sight.

"Might as well head back right?" Kris stepped over the corpse, walking towards the truck. The other 3 followed quickly, keeping quiet as they approached the 2 bandits who were being held at gunpoint.

"C'mon. We ain't gonna hurt ya, just let us go man!" The third bandit blubbered, struggling against Lilly. The second bandit, who appeared to be their leader, was unnaturally calm, only glaring at the man making a fool of himself next to him.

"We aren't letting you go, not after you shoot at us and try to steal our stuff!" Lilly snapped, trying hard to keep the flailing man down.

"Jerome. Stop making a fool of yourself and calm the fuck down" The second bandit scolded the man as though he were a fussy child. The flailing continued for a few moments before he stopped moving altogether, accepting his fate.

"Listen. We have a small group of people in the woods. My wife and son, as well as Gerald, who I currently assume is dead, has his daughter there. That's it. We thought you guys were bandits or some crazy fucks, which is why we decided to rob you guys. We didn't realise you were good people. Our group is dangerously low on food, and there's no other food in the area for miles. Can you at least put some thought into this. We're happy to trade with you guys, we have a lot of rifle rounds we cant use since we don't have the right rifle. All we have is 5.56 rounds, and our rifles take 7.62" The bandit explained simply, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Prove it, asshole" Kenny snapped from behind him. The second bandit moved his hand slowly down and whistled loudly, and as if on cue, a woman and two children exited the woods a few meters away from them.

"See? We only want to find some food, so we can get out of this area and somewhere with more supplies to scavenge" Lilly looked down at the two bandits they held at gunpoint, and the family that had just left the woods.

"Show us you have the rounds, and we'll give you a box of food and some water" Lilly stood up off the bandit she was holding down and held her hand out to help who they assumed was the leader up to his feet.

"Of course, we have about 6 or so big boxes. About 30 per box" The bandit waved to the woman who approached slowly towards the group.

"Sam, what's going on? I though you said you were going to ask them for help?" The woman ran to her husband and clutched him tightly, his son joining the reunion as well.

"Just a bit of a misunderstanding Maria. Nothing to worry about. Now, where are those rifle rounds we found?" The man released his wife and motioned to the bag on her back.

"Here, they're in my bag" The woman reached in and pulled a box of bullets out and handed it to Lilly. The latter took the box and looked at it sceptically before opening the box, seeing that there was in fact 30 rounds inside the box.

"They aren't lying about the rounds. What about the other boxes?" Lilly handed the box back to Maria, who handed it to Sam before pulling out 5 other boxes.

"6 boxes, as promised" Sam reassured before handing the boxes to the other group members. Everyone was silent, mulling over the trade. And as if on some unknown cue, Winter appeared out of basically nowhere and kicked the man Lilly was holding dead centre in the chest.

"Winter, the fuck are you doin'?" Kenny questioned, handing the box he was holding to Clementine, who had also just appeared from behind the truck.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. Needed to get rid of some stress, and he was in prime kicking position" Winter shrugged, crouching down and rubbing the winded man's shoulder. "Sorry man, couldn't resist"

"Now, about the food and such?" Sam asked, turning back to the group.

"Only problem is we're running low as it is. We need the rounds, but we also need the food…" Lilly muttered, moving to hand her box to Maria.

"Well, come with us. We're moving down towards Georgia, since there's been rumours of people making a big community down there" Sam offered, pushing the box back towards Lilly.

"I don't know… Seems a bit farfetched" Kenny reasoned, only to be silenced by none other than Clementine.

"Kenny, you made me follow you through the snow to try and find Wellington. You were so desperate to find a pipe dream then, now you're arguing against finding it?"

"How about we don't argue about the damn area and perhaps talk about the fact that most of the cities in Georgia are overflowing with walkers"

"That's a good thing though…" Clementine muttered, trying not to be heard.

"A good thing? How the hell is that a good thing Clem?!" Kenny exclaimed, turning to the 12 year old.

"Think about it! More walkers means less people. Less people means more supplies!" Clementine reasoned.

"She's right, we found a supermarket a few weeks ago that was infested with walkers, but after we cleared them out we found so much untouched food and water it wasn't even funny" Sam backed up Clementine's idea, even having Maria nodding in agreement.

"Well then where's all that food gone?" Lilly frowned and looked at Sam.

"Gone. Some assholes ran us out of our camp and took everything, then said something about home base and 'Howes'. You guys know anything about that?" Sam looked over at the other survivors. Kenny quickly glanced over to the only other person who suffered in Howe's.

"Yeah, they were a big community run by some asshole named Carver. Let's just say they aint causing problems no more" Kenny explained, obviously not happy at the thought of Howe's.

"Well in any case, what about the walkers? If we can find another big stash of food, we can take that" Maria finally spoke up

"Well there ain't any easy way we're gonna get into a place like that…" Kenny muttered.

"We can clear them fairly easily. We have plenty of ammo" Sam offered, hinting at the mass amounts of ammo held back in Maria's bag.

"Why waste the ammo? We can just walk past them" Winter noted, leaning against a car.

"Winter, you are a fucking genius!" Winter smiled and looked away, watching a lone walker stumble towards the group.

"Wait, walk past them? You people must be crazy, that'll never work. They'll see us and kill us!" Jerome looked fearful, obviously remembering something.

"Not necessarily. Walkers can't see, they rely on smell to find their next meal. That means if you cover yourself in walker blood and act calm, they don't notice you" Clementine finished her explanation and looked around at the shocked faces surrounding her, with the exception of Winter and Kenny.

"Through walkers?! Clementine, I thought you were one of the sane people here. But walking past walkers? That'll never work" Lilly sighed, noticing her companion had gone to kill some walkers that were approaching.

"It's worked before. It's how me and Kenny got out of Howe's. It's how Lee got me out of the Marsh House, out of Savannah" Lilly perked up upon hearing Lee's name, then looked lost in thought.

"If Lee believed in it, then why can't we? He did so much for us, the least we can do is trust him" Lilly looked up then nodded, agreeing to the plan.

"Lee? Why does he sound so familiar…" Winter asked aloud, approaching covered in walker's blood.

"Jesus Christ, what is that smell?" Jerome gagged and covered his nose, though it seemed no-one else was affected.

"Wait… she's covered in walkers blood, the crimson stuff? So now she's like invisible to them?" The young girl in Maria's arm looked up.

"That is pretty much how it works sweetheart" Winter smiled, enticing a giggle out of the young girl.

"So, we have a deal? You let us travel with you and we can make a go for a new life?" Sam turned to Kris of all people and held his hand out.

"Anyone got an objection?" Kris asked the rest of his group but received no answer.

"Then yes, we have a deal" Kris grinned as he grabbed a firm hold of Sam's hand and shook it, sealing the unwritten deal.

"Well, I don't know how much fuel we got left, so I say we head out now and get as much distance as we can to Savannah" Lilly turned and opened the cab of the truck with Jake following, seemingly silent, which in itself was very weird. The man was normally very loud and outgoing, so to see him silent like this was very off-putting.

"Where do we go?" Maria asked, shifting her hold on the young girl she was holding.

"In the back of the truck. Everyone is riding in the back of the truck, so jump on in and we can get goin'" Kenny showed their new companions to the back of the truck and helped Maria climb in with the two children.

"What about Daddy?" The young dark skinned girl asked, looking around for her father. Kenny glanced nervously over to Kris and Randy, who shrugged.

"Honey, your Daddy is… gone. I'm sorry" Kenny saw the young girl's heart break, hearing her father was dead.

"W-What?! How?! WHY?!" The young girl began tearing up, grabbing the nearest person, who happened to be Sam, and began bawling into his dirtied shirt.

"He was bitten by a walker, and told me to kill him, because he didn't want to turn into a walker and hurt you darling" Kenny soothed, placing his hand on the trembling girl's shoulders. The rest of the group uneasily glanced around the truck, waiting for the hulking vehicle to start. After a silent moment, with the only noise being the sobbing girl, the low rumble of the truck rung through the truck. After a confirmed knock from the window, Winter stood up and shut the door to the truck, engulfing the group in darkness.

"C-Can we open the door a tiny bit?" The girl in Maria's arm squeaked, burying her head into Maria's chest.

"Of course, it's no problem" Winter smiled and slid the door open a fraction, enough to let a decent amount of light into the truck. The young girl sighed, leaning against her mother and falling asleep. Most people did the same, save for Clementine, who clutched AJ and sighed. Their group was back to a fairly large number, and their food was low as it was.

"Can't sleep?" Clementine jumped when she heard the voice speaking to her, who she found was Sam. He was casually laying against the metal wall, hugging the other child close to him.

"Uh-uh" Clementine heard the man sigh, shifting the girl up into his arms and quietly moving across the truck, sitting down again next to Clementine.

"What's this little guys name?" Sam asked gently, stroking AJ's hair.

"His name is AJ" Clementine explained quietly, adjusting her grip on the infant.

"AJ, huh? Where are his parents? Not to be rude or anything, but you are the only one who looks even remotely similar to him" Clementine looked down at the sleeping infant, remembering his real parents, who both died because of Howe's, and Carver.

"His Dad died from blood loss when he was beat by Carver. His mom… died from being sick. It was really cold and because she had just given birth, she was really weak…" Sam noticed the girl's voice changing, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Shh, its fine. It's a touchy subject, I can see. If you don't feel comfortable speaking about it, I won't pry" Clementine looked up and smiled, feeling AJ squirm slightly in her grasp.

"Can I ask you something? Why did you attack us instead of asking us for help?" Clementine saw Sam's caring face shift to one of anger, then disappointment.

"Remember when I mentioned our supplies got stolen? Well we found more supplies after that, and we wanted to trade for some medicine for my daughter, but instead we lost everything again. I know what we did wasn't right, not anywhere near it, but I am truly sorry. We have kids, and we need to think of them first. I couldn't just leave her to die, so I got desperate and took Jerome and Gerald and said we were going to ask you guys for supplies. Then I pulled them aside and said we were robbing you. Turns out I should've just trusted you, huh?" Sam smiled weakly.

"It's ok, really. We've all done something we regret, it's a sign you're still human" Clementine smiled back.

"So, who do you have on your group?" Sam asked, leaning back against the metal wall.

"The one with the beard is Kenny. Kris is the one you were speaking to earlier. Lilly is the one driving, and Jake is in the front with her. Randy is the one next to the door, and that's his son, Gill. There's also Patricia who's beside Randy over there"

"Well, I guess I should introduce my group too. As you know, my name is Sam. The fool over there is Jerome. This is… was Gerald's daughter, Sarah. Over there is Maria, and our daughter, Jennifer, though we just tend to use Jen" Sam explained quietly. Clementine seemed lost in thought.

"How old are the kids?" Clem asked out of the blue.

"Sarah's 10, and Jen is 8. What about you and Gill, how old are you two?" Sam asked.

"I'm 12, though I'm not sure about Gill. I think he's about the same age?" Clementine then realised she had no clue how old Gill really was.

"Huh, ok. Wait, I just realised, I don't even know your name" Sam looked over at the girl, waiting for a response.

"Oh, I'm Clementine" Sam's face looked astonished and slightly puzzled.

"Clementine? Your parents named their darling daughter after a fruit?" Sam laughed quietly, earning a shove from the girl.

"Whatever" Clementine huffed, looking away.

"So, here's another question for you. Who's Lee?"

*A.N. HOLY FUCK

So I am sorry that I have taken wayyy to long to update this story. I sort of lost motivation (got lazy) and didn't feel like writing (completely fucking forgot).
I'm going to try and make updates a lot more consistent (well that's my hope anywho. I've recently got a new PC so it gives my friends an excuse to tell me to come be a gamer )
In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and look forward (hopefully) to a thrilling next few chapters.